What the world needs now is…

ESCAPISM!

Escapism allows us to disconnect from our immediate reality. It comes in many forms but the kind I like best is literature. I am familiar with this form of escapism as I have used it most of my life – starting as a kid growing up with many boisterous, untamed brothers. That was a reality I needed to escape from!

Reading a book is a quiet place to be in your head. When your mind settles into a story you enter a different reality. Your immediate reality no longer matters. The heavy burdens of real life are momentarily lifted. Right now human beings all over the world need this sort of escape.

Often, when we come out of the story, our perception has changed. Resting in the fictional world has allowed us to regain our equilibrium, to muster strength and to feel a sense of hope. It is that sense of hope which is most important in the world at this time. The person who has hope has the will and determination that goals will be achieved…

During my teenage years, those tumultuous years of high emotion and rapid change, the escapism literature I turned to was the classic whodunit of authors such as Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Although I didn’t identify what attracted me to that particular genre at the time, it makes sense to me now. My personal world had been turned upside down due to significant biological changes. The world as I knew it was transforming because I was leaving childhood to enter the scary adult realm. Like many teenagers I needed to know that despite all this upheaval, everything would be all right in the end. That’s the underlying message of a good whodunit.

Although my reading choices have broadened as an adult, I continue to read (and need) the whodunit genre. I also indulge in other forms of escapism such as watching TV dramas, walking in nature or playing online quizzes. However, my number one choice is literature.

During the current gargantuan world upheaval, escapism is vital to our well being. Stories can provide that easily and conveniently. We can still access books even if we are quarantined or in isolation by downloading ebooks or audio books to an electronic device either from our local library or from an online store such as Amazon.

 Let all your cares fall away: read a Dusty Kent today!

All the very best to everyone.  JB 🙂

Murder in Murloo

Yay! I’ve finally started my journey as a murder mystery writer. After years of reading crime fiction, especially that from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, I’m overjoyed to be now writing my own series. I’m celebrating my new venture with a new name: Brigid George. This pen name is a tribute to my father, George Rowley, who always called me Brigid.

Although I say I’ve just started my journey, it really started over forty years ago when I began reading mystery authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Josephine Tey and Ngaio Marsh. Thousands of hours of reading these and other crime fiction writers have prepared me for writing in the genre. Readers of Whisper My Secret might suggest that this journey started even earlier with the mysterious secret that lurked in our family. Whatever the starting point, I love writing murder mysteries as much as I love reading them.

I chose to write the type of book I most like to read: a ‘cosy’ whodunit. When I’m in bed, such stories are perfect. The fascination of the puzzle holds me spellbound until I arrive at sleep land in what seems like no time at all. When the violence and horror in the daily news broadcasts create in me a desperate desire to know that order can be restored to our world, it’s a whodunit I reach for.

Murder in Murloo, the first book in my mystery series, is a whodunit set in a small Australian fishing village overlooking the Southern Ocean. The village is a fictional place but is inspired by Marlo in East Gippsland where I grew up.

The series features Dusty Kent, a feisty petite redhead with a black belt in karate and a passion for flushing out murderers. Accompanied by her ‘Watson’, a travelling Irishman by the name of Sean O’Kelly, Dusty is determined to uncover the ‘miserable murderous maggot’ who callously terminated the life of a young woman.

In putting the story together I’ve received much appreciated help along the way from my writing groups and beta readers as well as professional crime fiction editor, Lisanne Radice. Lisanne’s impeccable manuscript guidance has taught me a great deal. As a mere apprentice in this genre I know I have more to learn, but a girl’s gotta start somewhere! I believe I‘ve started at an excellent point with Murder in Murloo. According to one of my beta readers: “It’s a bloody good read.”

A crucial element in my development as a writer has been the role of Amazon in providing unprecedented publishing opportunities. Writers can only grow if their work is widely read. Feedback from readers by way of letters, emails, blogs, social media and reviews, motivate writers and help them to improve their skills. My sincere thanks to those who read my books and those who write reviews. Readers are invaluable. Reader reviews are extremely helpful.

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Until next time.

JB 🙂 More about the writing of Whisper My Secret here   (under March Archives of JB’s Blog)